Planer-feed.



PATENTED SEPT. 19, 1905.

F. B. COGKBURN.

PLANER FEED.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 21, 1904.

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Inventor Wm (M uz/ n1 Attorney Witnesses N0- 799,7l6. PATENTED SEPT. 19, 190-5.

- F. B. COGKBURN.

PLANER FEED.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21, 1904.

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'UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PLANER-FEED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1905.

Application filed November 21, 1904. Serial No. 233,602.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANcIs B. CooKBURN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Ridgway, Elk county, Pennsylvania, (whose post-office address is No. 502 Kearsarge street, Ridgway, Pennsylvania,)have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Planer-Feeds, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention, pertaining to improvements in feeding devices for metal-planers, but of utility in other machinery, will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of driving mechanism as very commonly found in metalplaning machines, an embodiment of my present invention being shown as incorporated therewith; Fig. 2, a vertical section of parts in the plane of line a of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a side elevation of the feed-box pawl; Fig. 4, a side elevation of the ordinary vertical feed-shaft of a planer, showing its relation to the rail, side head, click-boxes, and feed-box shaft.

In metal-planers as employed to-day under conditions calling for extended and quick feeding action the settled practice seems to be to make the feed motion positive and take it from some part of the planer-driving mechanism active subsequent to the reversal of the table motion. In other words, instead of actuating the feed through the medium of the reversing-tumbler acting prior to reverse, as was the older practice, the feeding motion is derived from some part positively driven and subsequent to reversal of table motion.

The motion of the feed parts should be of definite extent, and somewhat serious problems have been introduced into planer-feeds by reasonof the fact that the motion of planerdriving mechanism in a given direction would be of variable extent, dependent upon the length of stroke. The table and all its driving mechanism moves in one direction to the end of the stroke and then reverses and returns and then reverses again; but the strokes are variable or selective, according to the length of work. It follows that feeding motion derived from the driving mechanism must maintain operative connection therewith for agiven period and having performed the feeding act disengage from the driving mechanism and stand ready for reengagement with the driving mechanism just subsequent to the reversal of the planer motion in order that the reverse motion may be given to the feed-transmitting parts.

Frictional connection between driving mechanism and the feed mechanism in connection with positive stops to limit the period of coaction has been found inadequate under modern conditions, and a positive ratchet motion appears to have become the almost unigersal device employed for actuating the fee The modern ratchet-feed may be broadly described as a ratchet turning with some part of the planer-driving mechanism, a doubleacting pawl cooperating with the ratchet and connected with the feed mechanism, stops to limit the are through which the pawl is swept by the ratchet, and devices'for reversing the pawl upon reaching the stopping-point. Upon the reversal of the planer the ratchet picks up the pawl and carries it forward till it is reversed and arrested by a stop, the feed parts being actuated during the pawl motion and the ratchet then proceeding onward in its rotation. On the next reverse of the planer the ratchet picks up the reversed pawl and gives the return actuation to the feed mechanism, and so on and on, the pawlsweeping through a definite arc regardless of the number of turns of the ratchet.

Planertables move forward slowly and backward rapidly, andit follows that whatever part of the driving mechanism be selected for actuating the feed mechanism, as through the medium of the ratchet and pawl, will give to the pawl a slow motion in one direction and a rapid motion in the other direction. If a desired speed for the feed-works is founded on the backing speed of the driving mechanism, then if the direction of feed be reversed it will become founded on the cutting speed of the driving mechanism and may be too slow. In short, under the conditions named the usual reversal of the direction of feed brings about a change in speed of feed due to the difference between the cutting and backing speeds of the driving mechanism.

In my invention I employ the usual ratchetand-pawl system, preferably modified in construction; but I so arrange that the ratchet while actuated by the driving mechanism of' the planer may have equal speed of motion in either direction notwithstanding the differences in speed of the driving mechanism. I furthermore improve the click-boxes by means IIC of which the feeding motion is transmitted to and at the feed-screws, &c., of the rail or side head.

In this specification I employ the usual termfeed-box as meaning that device em ployed for converting the variable-degree movement of planer-driving mechanism into constantdegree motion to be transmitted to the feedscrews, &c., and I employ the term clickbox usually applied to the device upon rail or side head for transmitting the feeding motion to the feed screws or rods and providing for its convenient arrest, reversal, &c.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the drivingshaft of a planer; 2, intermediate shafts in the transmission system of the driving mechanism; 3, the gear to engage the table-rack; 4:, the pinion engaging gear 3; 5, a gear turning with pinion 4; 6, a pinion engaging gear 5; 7, a gear turning with pinion 6; 8, a pinion fast on the driving-shaft and engaging gear 7,

whereby a complete transmission-train is formed between the driving-shaft and the table, and 15 gearing by which proper motion derived from the driving mechanism of the planer may be transmitted to the feed devices of the rail and of the side heads if the planer-be provided with side heads.

All the parts thus far referred to are as usual and subject to any of the usual and appropriate modifications found in those parts.

Proceeding with the drawings, 16 indicates the feed-box considered as a whole, and 17 the shaft extending between the feed-box and gearing 15, by which the feed-box transmits the converted motion. Shaft 17, it will be "observed, is one of the shafts of the driving mechanism of the planer, combined pinion 6 and gear 7 being loosely mounted upon it. I simply select this shaft as the shaft for carrying the feed-box and transmitting motion from it. As this shaft is usually employed in the driving system, it may be either a stationary or a rotary shaft,dependent on whether gear 7 and pinion 6 are keyed to the shaft or fastened together and turn loose upon it. In

the present case gear 7 and pinion 6 are fast together and turn independent of the shaft, the shaft being, however, a rotatory one.

Proceeding with the drawings, 18 indicates a pawl-carrying arm fast on shaft 17; 19, a planet-shaft journaled therein; 20, a pawl fast on one end of this shaft; 21, a pawl fast on the other end of the shaft, the pair of pawls thus united constituting, in effect, a doubleended pawl; 22, a ratchet fast with gear 7 and turning with it loosely on shaft 17, this ratchet being disposed against one side of arm 18, so as to cooperate with pawl 20; 23, a second ratchet loose on shaft 17 on the opposite side of the arm and cooperating with pawl 21; 24,

a spring-plunger carried by arm 18 and cooperating with the angular back of one of the the pawls after they have been otherwise tipped beyond the neutral; 25, a bracket fixedly supported in the plane of arm 18, this bracket in the illustration having two prongs straddling the field of revolution of the arm; 26, buffers carried by the prongs of the bracket in position to limit the angular motion of the arm to such degree as may be desired, a halfrevolution of the arm being provided for in the example; 27, a cam carried by each prong of the bracket, one in the path of each pawl and in position to be engaged by tails on the pawls as the arm approaches a buffer, and thus tip the pawl out of action; 28, the tails of the pawls to cooperate with the cams 27 29, carriers pivoted on the end of each pawl and serving as supports for the pawls when the pawls are not at work; 30, springs holding these carriers to normal position as extensions of the pawls; 31, a gear fast with ratchet 23 and with it loose on shaft 17; 32, a gear equal in size to gear 31, fast on the shaft of pinion 4 and engaging gear 31, and 32 flanges on the.

ratchets in the plane of the carriers.

Assume now that in the planer the backing speed is to the cutting speed as four is to one and assume that gear 5 and pinion 6 are proportioned as four to one and assume that the arrow on gear 3 indicates the direction of motion of that gear during the cutting stroke. It is manifest that during the cutting stroke the two ratchets will turn in one direction, ratchet 22 turning at four times the speed of ratchet 23. It will be further manifest that on the return stroke of the planer at four times the cutting rate of speed the two ratchets will turn in one direction, ratchet 22 again turning at four times the speed of its follow. It follows that when the planer is makingits slow cutting stroke the ratchet 22 turns in one direction at the same speed that ratchet 23 turns in the other direction when the planer is making its rapid backingstroke. It is clear that whatever be the ratio between the cutting and backing strokes for the planer gearing may be provided and proportioned for giving to the two ratchets corresponding relative speeds.

The quick-moving ratchet 22 is to produce the feeding motion at the beginning of the ing on its slow cutting stroke, ratchet 22 moving in clockwise direction. Pawl 20 engages the ratchet, and thereupon arm 18 accompawls to serve in completing the tipping of l panies the ratchet and continues to do so until the tail of the engaged pawl engages its appropriate cam 27, whereupon the pawl is disengaged and the ratchet continues its motion, the arm being arrested by the appropriate one of buffers 26. Shaft 17 and the feed-work actuated by it has thus been givenan impulse at a certain speed. When the planer reverses and begins its quick backing stroke, then slowmoving ratchet 23 picks up its pawl and turns the arm and its shaft in the reverse direction, thus giving the return impulse to the feed mechanism and at'the same speed as obtained at the first impulse. The details of the pawls will be explained later. It will be recognized that the device as thus far described might be likened to an ordinary feedbox having a ratchet so compensated relative to the driving mechanism of the planer that it will move in the two directions at the same speed.

The pawls act positively and are practically noiseless. When the pawl reaches its disengaging-cam,that cam disengages the pawl from the ratchet and tips the pawl a trifle beyond the neutral, whereupon the plunger 24 tends to tip the pawl further and condition the other pawl for engagement with its ratchetwheel. The two pawls being fast on one shaft constitute practically one double-ended pawl, whose ends are offset to engage separate ratchet-wheels in different planes.

When a cam 27 releases the pawl from its ratchet and when the plunger 24 tends to complete the tipping, the carrier of the other pawl rides the flange of its ratchet and prevents the clicking and wearing of the pawl. When the ratchet reverses, then the carrier yields and permits the pawl to engage. The carrier-springs 30, if employed, should be weak, so as not to preponderate over plunger 24. Fig. 3 shows the lower carrier riding the flange of its ratchet and ready to yield and permit the lower pawl to engage its ratchet the instant the ratchet reverses and starts to move in clockwise direction.

I claim as my invention 1. In a planer-feed, the combination, substantially as set forth, of adriving mechanism arranged to give to a planer part a cutting motion in one direction and a backing motion in the oppositedirection and at higher speed, as usual; a feeding member to advance the cutting-tool between the planer-strokes, as usual; a train of mechanism between said driving mechanism and feed member for transmitting motion from the former to the latter when the planer is making its backing stroke; a speed-increasing device interposed in said train and inactive when the planer is making its backing stroke; and mechanism for connecting said speed-increasing device with said train when the planer makes its cutting stroke; whereby the motion transmitted to the'feed member at either the cutting stroke or the faster backing stroke of the planerwill be at substantially equal speeds.

2. The combination, substantially as set forth, of planer-driving mechanism arranged for turning in a first direction at one speed and a second direction at another speed, a driven member to be oscillated thereby, a pawl-carrier on the driven member, a pair of ratchets, mechanism connecting the driving mechanism and the two ratchets to move them simultaneously in the same direction but at dissimilar speeds corresponding substantially with the speeds of the driving mechanism, and pawl mechanism connecting the pawl-carrier and ratchets, whereby the driving mechanism in its slower motion actuates the driven member through the medium of the fastermoving ratchet and on its faster motion operates the ratchet through the slower-moving ratchet, whereby the two motions of the driven member are at substantially equal speed, and tool-feeding mechanism connected with said driven member.

3. In a planer the combination, substantially as set forth, with the driving mechanism of the planer,and the tool-feedingmechanism, and an oscillatory shaft to transmit feeding motion between them, of a pawl-carrying arm oscillating with the shaft, a pair of ratchets, a connection between one of the ratchets and a member of the driving mechanism, a connection between the other ratchet and another member of the driving mechanism whereby the second ratchet is turned in the same direction but at higher speed than the first ratchet, and pawl devices cooperating with the pawl-carrying arm and ratchets.

4. In a planer-feed the combination, substantially as set forth, of a ratchet mechanism, a pawl-carrying member turning on the axis of the ratchet, a stop to limit the angular motion of said member, a pawl on said member to be driven by the ratchet, a fixed cam in the path of the pawl to disengage it from the ratchet, a spring urging the pawl to engagement, a spring-held pivoted carrier mounted on the pawl and riding a surface concentric with the ratchet when the ratchet is moving in a direction opposite that in which itwould propel the pawl if engaged, tool-feeding devices connected with said pawl-carrying member, and gearing connecting the driving mechanism of the planer with said ratchet mechanism and arranged to turn the latter at a relatively higher speed as the planer makes its cutting stroke.

5. The combination, substantially as set forth, with the gearing and shafts in the train of driving mechanism of a planer, of a pawl arm and two ratchets mounted on one of said shafts, a connection between one ratchet and the driving-gearing on said shaft, gearing connecting the other ratchet with another one of the shafts and arranged to turn its ratchet at a higher speed than the first ratchet, pawl mechanism cooperating with the pawl-carrier and ra tchets, and tool-feedin g devices connected with said pawl mechanism whereby said driving mechanism may impart motion at substantially equal speeds to the tool-feeding devices in their two directions while imparting to the planer its cutting and backing strokes at dissimilar speeds.

FRANCIS B. COCKBURN.

Witnesses:

C. A. B. JoNEs, H. EGGERDING. 

